Oil pumping apparatus



y 1934. G. c. ENGSTRAND 1,964,726

OIL PUMPING APPARATUS Fil'ed Aug. 19, 1932 I nggsms /9i %W fiwd Patented July 3 1934 UNITED STATES OIL PUMPING APPARATUS Gunnar C. Engstrand, New York, N. Y., assignor to Sludge Pumping, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 19, 1932, Serial No. 629,455

5 Claims.

My invention relates to a method and apparatus for the pumping of heavy oil sludges and residues. 4 These sludges are usually extremely viscous and stable water-in-oil emulsions and resist all attempts of pumping by ordinary pumping methods.

There have been made attempts to pump such viscous residues by steam jet pumps, but these attempts have hitherto resulted in failure, inasmuch as ordinary steam jet pumps will not handle such viscous material. I have however discovered, that steam jet pumps of a modified construction will not only pump the.viscous sludge material from the bottom of the storage tanks where it accumulates, but also will deliver this material in such a changed condition that the material may be pumped by ordinary pumping means for considerable distances.

Also this sludge material, which hitherto has been considered a waste product expensive to dispose of, is by my method so changed that it may be pumped through conventional oil burners and burnt in the boilers.

- Inasmuch as the 'nature of the material is changed by my pumping process, I claim the specific method by which the change is accomplished as part of my invention.

I also claim the modification in the conventional steam jet pump necessary for its use as a sludge pump as part of my invention.

Also, although it is believed that improvements as to form, size and proportion of parts may be made in my preferred apparatus, I also claim the apparatus disclosed as part of my invention.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 shows my preferred apparatus removing the viscous residue from an oil storage tank and delivering it into a receptacle, from where it is pumped by a conventional reciprocating pump into and through a pipe line.

Figure 2 shows the modified construction of a steam jet pump.

Figure 3 shows a cross section of the steam jet pump taken on line AA.

Figure 4 shows the detail of the steam jet booster which is an important adjunct to the steam jet pump in order to make its operation steady and continuous.

In the drawing where like reference characters designate corresponding parts, (1) denotes the storage tank at the bottom of which the viscous sludge residue (2) has accumulated.

The transmission hose (3) is shown led through the manhole. (4) and the steam jet suction pump (5) is attached to the intake end of the hose (3). The discharge end of the hose (3) is connected to the lateral branch of the Y-connection (6) and the small diameter steam jet booster (7) is attached to the straight-run branch of the Y-connection, as shown on the drawing.

The discharge leg of the Y-connection (6) is attached to the relatively large transmission hose (8), which hose discharges into the open tank (9).

The suction (10) of the reciprocating pump (11) is connected to the lower part of the tank (9), and the discharge (12) of said pump is connected to the pump line (13), through which the material is finally transferred.

A high pressure steam line (14) is branched off into two lines (15 and 16), which lines furnish the steam necessary for the steam jet pump (5) and steam jet booster (7) respectively.

The control valves 15' and 16' are furnished in the steam lines 15 and 16, all as shown in the drawing.

The steam jet pump (5) is of the annular jet design with a central passage for the material and comprises a cast iron body (1'7) provided with enlarged socket ends (18 and 19), and a tapered and cored nozzle piece (20) is screwed into the, intake end of the body piece (17) so as to form a steam jacket (21) having a very narrow circular nozzle opening (22) around the hollow core (23) which allows for the passage of the material.

The steam jacket (21) is provided with the steam inlet- (24), to which the steam hose (15) is attached.

A pipe nipple (25) is preferably screwed into the intake socket of the body piece (17) and to this nipple a suction tail hose may be attached if required.

The operation is as follows:--

The nipple (24) is dipped into the material to be pumped, and the steam valves 15 and 16' are opened.

The material sucked up is usually a very stable and extremely viscous water in oil emulsion, i. e. water globules imprisoned in and suspended in an oily substance.

The viscosity holds the material back in the relatively narrow passage (23) and the steam jet which issues from the nozzle opening (22) tears the slowly entering material into fragments.

However as the specific heat of water is just double that of oil, the water globules will condense just double the amount of the fast moving steam than the oil globules.

As the specific weight of water and oil is nearly the same, the water globules, due to the fact that they condense into themselves an amount of fast moving steam nearly double that of the oil globules, must therefore possess after condensation has taken place a velocity nearly double that of the oil globules, and the water globules are therefore by my process torn out of the emulsion with a velocity equal to the difference in speed of the water globules and the oil globules respectively, and the emulsion is, in this way, completely broken down and separated into its constituents.

However as the kinetic energy of the steam jet is considerably reduced in the tearing apart of the viscous material, a steam jet booster directed in the line of flow is necessary to give to the pumped material an additional acceleration in its travel through the transmission line.

If a conventional steam jet pump was used for the pumping of such extremely viscous sludges there will exist inside the transmission hose a great amount of uncondensed steam and consequently also a high steam pressure and a blow back of steam through the intake end will result in stopping of the pumping.

In my method of pumping the propulsion however is essentially an inertia propulsion and not a pressure propulsion as that of the conventional steam jet pump used for the pumping of liquids.

Therefore it will be seen that the existence of a high steam pressure in the transmission line will defeat'the object of my pumping method.

A ball if struck by a bat will travel to a great height'with the expenditure of little force, but itwould require a tremendous pressure to pump a liquid up to the same elevation.

Now therefore the main requisites for my method of pumping are first that the amount of viscous material entering the pump shall be ,so restricted that no sealing or clogging of the dis-' charge line takes place and also that the high pressure steam jet is afforded an-unobstructed and unimpeded expansion and discharge to the atmosphere.

When these conditions are fulfilled the propulsion becomes an inertia propulsion and even the most stable and viscous mixtures will be effectively broken down by the high pressure and velocity steam jet and transformed into material which is readily pumped by ordinary pumping means.

When the steam of 125 lbs. pressure per square inch is introduced into my modified jet pump it will emerge from the annular opening- (22) with a velocity of close to 3000 ft. per second.

Inasmuch as the annular nozzle opening (22) is two inches in diameter and the clearance all around the nozzle piece is approximately one fiftieth of an inch the area of the opening is approximately one-eighth of a square inch, and therefore approximately one-eighth pounds of steam will issue therefrom at a speed of 3000 feet per second.

As the pumping rate of my preferred machine for the heaviest sludges is approximately 30 barrelsper hour, approximately 3 lbs. of material enters the transmission line for every second.

As three pounds of material can only condense approximately one-seventh part of a pound of steam in order to raise its temperature 100 degrees Fahrenheit it is evident that the one-eighth lbs. of steam entering the transmission line could be totally condensed by the material if the condensation was complete.

I have however found that the condensation is not complete but that steam still exists in the transmission line of my preferred apparatus and also that this steam is of suflicient quantity and velocity to in itself suspend and carry the fragments into which the pumped material is blown by the steam jet at the entrance into the transmission line proper.

The auxiliar steam jet booster (7) although not absolutely necessary for my pumping method forms a valuable adjunct to my process inasmuch as the steam jet issuing therefrom gives to the pumped fragments an additional acceleration and thus prevents any clogging of the transmission line which would tend to interrupt the smooth continuancy of the pumping operation. When the material is delivered into the tank (9) which is open to the atmosphere for the escape of surplus steam the pumped material is pumpable oil and Water, which may be pumped any desired distance by ordinary pumping means.

It is to be noted that inasmuch as the material to be pumped is extremely viscous even the powerful suction of the steam jet pump pulls only a relatively small amount of sludge per time element into the transmission line.

Also as the condensation ability of oil is only half that of water, the amount of steam condensed by oil is only half that condensed by water.

Now therefore it is imperative for a successful pumping to restrict the steam nozzle opening of the conventional jet pump and also in order to permit even a relatively small amount of sludge I have found it necessary to enlarge the throat of the conventional steam jet pump.

I have found that the annular steam jet opening of my improved sludge pump shall be less than one-tenth of the throat opening of the pump. I have also found that the diameter of the transmission hose shall be of such a size that the area of the core passage through the pump shall be less than one third that of the transmission line, but more than 50 times that of the steam nozzle, which therefore becomes less than two per cent of the transmission line.-

When this relation of size of the steam nozzle and the throat passage is adopted in a annular steam jet pump, the sludge transmission through the hose becomes distinctly a spray transmission, i. e. fragments of sludge suspended in a steam stream, although the material is being sucked into the transmission line in a solid column. It is obvious that such a transmission may be carried a considerable height without the discomfort of a considerable pressure head as is existent in conventional pumping methods.

I have also found, that air admitted to the intake end slows down the steam jet velocity to such a. degree thatall pumping practically ceases.

The introduction of a high velocity steam jet into the direction of flow at a point where the transmission line is enlarged will cause a helpful suction on the intake line to which the jet sludge pump is attached without unduly increasing the steam pressure in the transmission line.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific details of construction as it is manifest that variations and modifications may be made in the adoption of the device to various conditions without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

In this connection it is also to be noted that when the pumped material is a more liquid emulsion the transfer through the intake transmission hose (3) may sometimes not be a spray transmission but a solid liquid column transfer. However the steam jet booster (7) will cause a spray transmission in the transmission line proper (8).

In my preferred machine I use an annular steam jet nozzle of one-eighth square inch aggregate cross section, a throat opening of 2.25 square inches, a three inch diameter intake transmission hose and a four inch diameter transmission hose proper, with a one-quarter inch diameter steam jet booster.

Now therefore, the aggregate area of the steam jet nozzle is in my preferred apparatus approximately one percent of the discharge line, and approximately flve percent of the core e through the pump.

I claim:

1. In a pumping apparatus, a steam jet suction pump adapted to be attached to a transmission line, an annular steam jet nozzle in said pump.-

nozzle in the suction pump, a steam connection to said annular nozzle, a core passage through the steam jet suction pump, the aggregate area jet nozzle being approximately five percent of the core passage through the suction pump.

4. In a pumping apparatus, a steam jet suction pump, an enlarged discharge. transmission line, a connection between the pump and the discharge transmission line, an annularsteam jet nozzle in the suction pump, a steam connection to said'annular nozzle, 9. core passage through the steam jet suction pump, the aggregate area of the steam jet nozzle being approximately one percent of the discharge line and approximately five percent oi the core passagethrough the suction pump.

5. The method of pumping viscous material characterized by admitting a high pressure steam jet at high velocity at the intake end of a transmission line to thereby suck the material into the line in a solid column and blow it into fragments, retarding the material in the immediate vicinity of the steam jet and permitting the high pressure steam to expand unimpeded and at all times to discharge freely into the atmosphere.

' GUNNAR C. ENGSTRAND. 

